Ahmedabad, Sept. 12: Seven months as the VHP-appointed dharmacharya of Ahmedabad entrusted with reconverting Christians and Muslims ? a job he went about with zeal, claiming to have got 506 Hindu girls who eloped remarried ? proves to have been insipid for him.
Babubhai Patel, alias Babu Bajrangi ? a vestige of his 15-year association with the Bajrang Dal ? has now floated a new outfit, ?more aggressive than the Dal to carry out direct action?, and named railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav as his prime target.
It is a chilling agenda, particularly as Bajrangi was identified by police as one of those who led the mob that burnt to death 89 people at Naroda-Patia in one of the worst carnages during the post-Godhra riots of 2002.
Initially called the Bajrangi Group, it has been renamed the Navchetan Group after VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia?s objection.
The 41-year-old, who faces several criminal cases, including abduction and murder, said the group, of which he will be the national president, would work like a military organisation. The cadre has been issued identity cards and will wear a uniform.
While spending about six months in jail after the riots, he says he felt the need for a group of highly committed youth, ready to die for a cause. This, he says, would be the difference between his Navchetan Group and the Dal.
Bajrangi says he was ?inspired? by Islamic militants, especially their suicide squads, and the modus operandi of don Dawood Ibrahim.
He claims to have recruited 16,000 youth, including girls, who would be given 20 days? intensive ?military training? in Dehgam to handle weapons by retired army officers. Many from the Dal have joined him.
An advanced cadre of about 2,100 youth would function like a suicide squad. They would be given specific targets, including ?thrashing and elimination?.
Laloo Prasad, who has ordered a fresh probe into the Godhra incident, tops Bajrangi?s hit list. Once his cadre is trained, he says he will challenge Laloo Prasad to visit Gujarat.
The list includes names of members of the Sangh parivar ? the BJP and the RSS ? and the Congress, whom he brands the ?enemy? of the cause of Hindutva.
Expectedly, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is not happy with the ?over-ambitious Bajrangi?, whom they see as drifting from its ideology. Bajrangi argues he was feeling suffocated in the VHP as it is no longer a militant organisation. As the Dal is controlled by the VHP, it, too, has become meek.
Bajrangi knows the Sangh twins wouldn?t take his outburst kindly. ?I may be expelled from the VHP. But before they take such an action, I will have my own outfit. Soon 40-odd highly dedicated members from my group will stay with me round-the-clock,? he says.
Bajrangi says his disillusionment with the VHP began when his suggestion for ?direct action? against select ?nuisance secularist elements? to frighten them was turned down by the VHP leaders who, he says, are petrified after the Supreme Court transferred two riot cases outside Gujarat for trial.
